Electrical connectors used to transmit data signals and/or electrical power, such as alternating current (AC) power and/or direct current (DC) power, may include a plurality of power contacts and a plurality of signal contacts mounted in an electrically-insulative housing. In a typical application, the connector may be configured to be mounted onto a substrate, such as a printed circuit board, and configured to mate with a complementary electrical component, which can be a power cable or complementary electrical connector, for example. Specifically, each contact within the housing may include one or more header and/or receptacle contacts that mate with opposed receptacle and/or header contacts, respectively, of the complementary electrical component.
A typical contact includes multiple terminals or pins extending from a bottom portion for electrically connecting the contact to a substrate, such as a printed circuit board. In the case of power contacts, high voltage levels traveling through the terminals can produce arcing across the terminals, or leaking or creeping as described in UL Spec 746A, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. It is known, therefore, that under otherwise constant conditions, for instance substrate material and the number of terminals, spacing the terminals away from each other can reduce the instances of arcing. However, spacing the terminals farther apart while maintaining the number of terminals adds to the overall footprint of the connector, thereby occupying valuable space on the circuit board.
In the case of signal contacts, cross-talk between contacts can erode signal transmission if, for instance, the terminals are spaced too close together. Again, however, spacing the mounting terminals farther apart results in an increase of the connector footprint on the circuit board.
It is therefore desirable to provide an electrical contact having improved electrical properties without increasing the footprint of the connector on the substrate to which the connector is mounted.